The America's Cup is back in the New York state supreme court. Alinghi's boss, Ernesto Bertarelli, has hired a fresh set of lawyers to plead the case that Larry Ellison's challenge for a one-on-one match in 90ft multi-hulled yachts was not properly made and thus cannot be entertained. He suggests that Ellison's challenge did not adequately describe the challenging vessel. It is thin ground for a legal challenge and Judge Herman Cahn is likely to reject it.

Roger Sturgeon's 65ft Rosebud was declared the winner of the Sydney-Hobart Race when the overnight weather delayed the progress of the major challengers in the 41 miles from Tasman Island to the finish.

Eighty-year-old Syd Fischer, skipper of Ragamuffin, said of his second-place finish in his 37th race that he could cope with it, remarking: 'Yeah, I've had a few of them.' Ray Roberts' Quantum Racing was third. Britain's Alex Thomson and his co-skipper, Andrew Cape, aboard the 60ft Hugo Boss have rejoined the Barcelona World Race, but their mandatory 48-hour stop has put them 900 miles behind Jean-Pierre Dick's Paprec-Virbac, although Hugo Boss retains second place.